Shannon's Definition of Werewolf Film: Films with a werewolf, werewolves in them or where the central focus is around werewolves. Werewolves defined as humans who turn into wolves or werewolves, usually uncontrollable on the full moon, but not exclusively so. Werewolf films are generally horror films and often feature impressive make-up and effects especially in the depiction of the werewolf transformations.

Reason to see: I'm a huge fan of the Twilight universe, and I loved the film Twilight although was disapointed with New Moon and was hoping Eclipse would get us back into the groove of greatness. And I did the whole The Wolfathon in anticipation for the film.

It's a bit of a strange thing to review The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, as I feel split down the middle between reacting to the film as a critic and a fan. The critic in me is cheering, seeing a very well put together film with solid performance, strong story arc and a very successful book to film translation that keeps the intent of the story, brings intensity of the action as well as the internal conflict all the while managing to made a third entry into the series enjoyable as 'part 3' but also easily understandable to anyone who walks in cold.

For the uninitiated, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is the third film in the vampire romance series based on the best selling books by Stephenie Meyer. I whole hearted loved and will always praise the first film in the series Twilight, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, whom brought the intensity of first love between our protagonist Bella and the vegetarian vampire Edward to the big screen, in a way that celebrated and embraced the spirit of the book on which it was based. A year later we saw the next in the series The Twilight Saga: New Moon, directed by Chris Weitz, which played it safe and was a very literal adaptation of the book which is seeped in loss and reconnection, although I felt at that stage we lost some of the magic. With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, directed by David Slade, I feel like we got a bit of both: another very literal adaptation of book where the tone of the film fits the darker story of revenge along with the further development of a love triangle, and adds and edginess of danger and the heat of romance that will keep viewers enraptured throughout.

As a fan, I'll admit my first reaction was straight up relief. I was so disappointed with The Twilight Saga: New Moon (which is my favourite of the books), because it lost the spirit of the world. The spirit does come back in Eclipse, mostly with the performances as the actors really have a great sense of their characters and this shows well through their camaraderie, concerns, conflicts and compromises. The fan in me would have loved to see the spirit of the series shown in other ways as well, but with a darker themed film there may have been less opportunity to nods to the Twi-verse amidst the action and love triangle. It does really feel like they enhanced the world on several levels though, working with what worked before and then cranking it up. The action elements have a stronger presence and are more intense, enhanced by using subtly different but very effective effects to bring this horror element out to play.

It also really cranks up the heat of the romance, bringing what we've previously seen as stirring to absolutely sizzling. The screening I went to had more than it's fair share of hoots, hollers and mid-film applause at these moments. This is slightly ironic considering the films very clear 'traditional family values' message, but at least it's something discussed as opposed to just presented or accepted. I could gripe about that, but it's true to the book and the verse so that feels like a mute point. I do have a small bone to pick on the with the slight changes of villain character Victoria, played in this film by Bryce Dallas Howard, where not only is she not in the film very much but she's almost more pouty and manipulative, where previously she's been showcased as very capable and feral. Not that those can't all co-exist, but they are very different choices. This change here does however align to the description of Victoria in the new novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, but I very much preferred Rachelle Lefevre's ferocious and confident Victoria from Twilight and New Moon.

What I did love about the film, I whole heartedly loved. The first thing on that list was the sound and the score. Great choices there giving a great atmosphere and creepy tone, especially in the fight sequences. Next up is the performances by Kellan Lutz as the burly vampire Emmett, who has amazing delivery on all of his lines and has been a stand out since the beginning - he's a joy to watch. I also loved Billy Burke as Charlie, who has great awkward father/daughter chemistry with Kristen Stewart as Bella. Actually, Kristen Stewart has been so solid throughout the series that sometimes I forget to give credit where credit is due and it's due here. So, kudos again to Kristen Stewart as she is great as out protagonist Bella. Her along with Robert Pattinson as Edward and Taylor Lautner as Jacob give a really solid foundation for the film and play off each other very well. For performances, I was also impressive is Xavier Samuel (The Loved Ones), who appears as the tormented newborn vampire Riley. Other things I loved about the film include the fun, familial sense of the Wolf Pack, although I would have loved to see more of them. The cinematography is sensational, and I love the implementation of a cooler colour story for the vampires which gives a stark sense of distancing in contrast to the warmer tones used to represent other elements and environments in the film. Absolutely beautiful.

There was lots to love in the film, and I'm thrilled to have enjoyed it as much as I did. It really hits all the right marks with memorable moments, great lines, fantastic chemistry, exciting action and more. The fan in me was hoping for a certain in a je ne sais quoi, like nod to the fans as we've seen in the previous films but I am happy with what we got. I still don't know how they got so much of the book in the film from back stories to action to romance as well as adding some new elements and extending others. It's very impressive how well it flows, all things considered.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will easily have the widest reach of the series, not only will the fans be happy but it also will have a broader appeal to a larger audience as it truly does have it all: action, drama, mystery, romance, not to mention vampires and werewolves! It's visually stunning with a great soundtrack and the actors all do a great job and even as part of a series it still tells it's own story. It truly has something for everyone as a movie going experience.

Countdown to Eclipse in Pictures * concludes with Day 8 as today is the day The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is released, although I'm sure a fair few of us, myself included, saw midnight screenings last night (review will be up later today, but I'm relieved to say it's very enjoyable).

Wow, looking at these pictures make the release of Twilight feel so long ago, even though it was only 20 or so months. Amazing to think at the time of release that Cam Gigandet was the only very well known actor of the bunch - and now they are pretty much all superstars. But, back to the images: I love the nomads, Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria in particular. They have a feral fierceness that is in strong contrast to everything else in the film. They are powerful, dangerous and unpredictable. Love them.

New Moon Villains: The VolturiMichael Sheen as Aro, Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius and Cameron Bright as Alec, Photo Credit Kimberley French Courtesy of E1 Entertainment

(Left to right) CHARLIE BEWLEY as Demetri and DANIEL CUDMORE as Felix in THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON Photo Credit Kimberley French

MICHAEL SHEEN stars as Aro in THE TWILIGHT SAGA NEW MOON Photo Credit Kimberley French

From one extreme to the next, Twilight has the feral nomads and in New Moon walk the refined, although brutal, Volturi including Michael Sheen as Aro. Great casting for the Volturi, although I was at the time and still rather suprized at how traditional old school vampire stylings they went with. But... did I mention Michael Sheen?

I know I shouldn't be suprized any more when an animated, family friendly does so much better than everything else at the box office, but sometimes I continue to be. Not so much in this case as Toy Story 3 as it is all of those things as well as being a part of a beloved series, and it does very well in it's second week in Canada, North America & it's first week in Australia (it will be released in the UK in July).

But, I have to admit next weekends box office takings are going to pique my curiosity more than this week as I can't wait to see how The Twilight Saga: Eclipse does. The midnight screening I went to was just as full as when I saw New Moon last November, and this time it was a Tuesday (as opposed to Thursday) night. Only time will tell!

Tuesday, 29 June 2010

It's Tuesday, and what a lovely Tuesday it is. If you are like me and anxiously awaiting the release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, you can start off your day by snagging a copy of the Score to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which is done by none other than Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings). Now let's check out what actual films are DVD today on Tuesday June 29, 2010.

First up is The Crazies, a crazy gore-ific paranoia virusy goodness that is a remake of a 1973 George A. Romero film of the same name. I'm surprized I've not reviewed it as it was on my most anticipated releases of 2010 and I really enjoyed it. Speaking of enjoying films, the supernatural drama The Eclipse (2010) hits DVD today, which I'm thrilled to share as it just got a limited release here and is well worth checking out. Also out is Michael Haneke's epic black & white drama The White Ribbon that is as disturbing as it is beautiful, and the Charles Darwin biopic Creation.

Thomas Haden Church stars as Don McKay, a high school janitor whom doesn't appear to have done that much since back when he was in high school. He doesn't appear down on his luck, but perhaps was at one time and never regained confidence from them. A letter from his high school sweetheart draws him back to his hometown and steeps him into the unexpected as he tries to deal with old and new acquaintances through troubling times shrouded in mystery.

The understated performance of Thomas Haden Church really roots the film, and the oddness of how calm his character is mirrors the calmness around the oddness of the story. It has a strong mysterious element to it that keeps you intrigued, but the overall normalness of the characters can be what keeps you on edge. With the exception of Elisabeth Shue, who plays the letter writing old flame, whom you just know is trouble and ain't all that subtle - although this contrast works very well, again putting the viewer on edge.

I was impressed with the cast from start to finish here, Thomas Haden Church is rock of endurance through the film and Melissa Leo who is always a joy to watch and she's fantastic here as the prim & proper carer for Elisabeth Shue. We also get to enjoy the talents of the James Rebhorn and the always entertaining Keith David.

Don McKay grafts us a mystery in the tone of a just off kilter crime drama, that is centred strongly on the characters over the events. It keeps us wanting more, but better yet it keeps on giving us more. Carefully planned and soundly built, it's a fascinating ride of behold. The story always drives forward, but it's the characters and the strong performances that you turn your head to look at along the way. It's an off kilter drama that really delivers.

DVD Extras:

Commentary with writer/director Jake Goldberger and producer Jim Young: The commentary is quite entertaining - very colourful, filled with sarcastic humour and numerous film references. Throughout the commentary they tell many stories and background on the casting of Thomas Haden Church, Elisabeth Shue, Melissa Leo, James Rebhorn, M. Emmet Walsh, Keith David and Pruitt Taylor Vince, including insights and suggestions from the actors. They also discuss location choices, behind the scenes moments and a lot abut of the process of and challenges with being a first time filmmaker are working on a small budget. The commentary for the majority of the film plays instead of the audio for the film, as opposed to on top of.

We've been seeing lots of great Australian thrillers recently, and the track record keeps going strong with Beautiful. Set in a suburban community where something seems to be amiss, and the neighbours talk a lot to themselves but keep away from each other, it takes the curiosity of young Danny (Sebastian Gregory) along with temptation from his sexy neighbour Suzy (Tahyna Tozzi) to start sleuthing for the truth.

Beautiful plays the greys of relationships into brilliant and rich vividness. We are continually wondering about who every one is, and what their motivation is during the film which is great as it keeps you on your toes in this seemingly perfect but obviously off kilter neighbourhood. The dynamic between the young teen Danny & older teen Suzy is perfect with playing with that edge between boundaries of what's innocent, and what's not. The tension is pitch perfect for clouding judgments on several levels here.

One of the highlights of the film, and a real key part of thrillers, is how much tells you in tone even if certain moments or relationships aren't clearly defined. I loved this, because you always had a sense of what was going on, but still were unsure, but still wanted to know more. It really keeps you as a viewer, very interested and engaged through the entire film. Other highlights include two really stand out performance: Peta Wilson as Sherrie, who is captivating ever moment she is on scene and Socratis Otto is absolutely sensational as the Max, the intensity and subtle but vast range that he puts in the character is brilliant.

Overall, Beautiful is beautiful - beautifully shot, scored and acted. It's nice to see a thriller that is so visually gorgeous and have that contrasted against the dark events and general tone of unease. It's a wild combination but one that works really well.

DVD Extras:

The Beautiful Vision (14 minutes) A behind the scenes documentary with interviews with writer/director Dean O'Flaherty, actors Tahyna Tozzi (Suzy), Socratis Otto (Max), Production Designer Robert Webb and composer Paul Mac. Nicely put together documentary that discusses casting and character development, goes through the creation of the music, and lots of fun behinds the scenes footage including testing out some of the special effects.

Deleted Scenes (6 scenes, 10 minutes total) I really enjoyed watching the deleted scenes, there is an especially good scene between Danny & Sherrie that is quite enlightening although it's very long and converstional so I can understand why it was cut. Although not marked as such, one of the scenes appears to be an alternate ending.

Countdown to Eclipse in Pictures * continues with Day 7 and with a lot of folks I'm sure heading out to midnight screenings of Eclipse tonight I thought it's a perfect time to showcase the none other than Bella & Edward.

Monday, 28 June 2010

This week at Before the Dawn: A Twilight Podcast, there is tons of news for Marina & I to chat about with the recent Black Carpet World Premiere of Eclipse, interviews with cast & crew galore, vids and of course more news on the 2 films that will be Breaking Dawn.

Another month has passed to it's time to see what's made it off the shelves and piles and gone from 't-read' to 'read'. I'm down to 12/20 read off my 2010 Book to Film Reading Challenge, and what I'm left with is almost exclusively Harry Potter books! I've stepped up timing on reading those by working in both Chamber of Secrets & Prisoner of Azkaban this month to give a bit more ease to get through the rest of the series as from here on it they get rather large. Overall, June was quite a book filled month and I've made it through 11 books and still have a few that I'm in the middle off. Wow. That's a lot of reading. Let's look at some of the highlights.

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling (re-read) Book 2 of 7This second entry in the Harry Potter series was like the first, a very fun, fast read. In terms of a book to film adaptation it was also very strongly aligned from book to film with very little that didn't make it to screen or was changed. I'm really enjoying revisiting this world through the books which I've only read once each up until this point, although I know the films very well.

Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling (re-read) Book 3 of 7This is the first book in the series where there are not only omissions from book to films, but actual changes in the book to film adaptation. I don't really mind any of the changes though and overall have found that the book provided more insights to the characters and even their actions that I hadn't picked up on before - even if it's something in the film! This is astonishing to me as out of all the films I've likely seen this one the most, so any new insight has floored me and here there were several from the signifigance of chocolate to use of locations or even just that Madame Pomfrey has a first name (Poppy).

General Reading

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Book 1 of 3)I hummed and hawwed a little bit on reading this one as I had already seen the film, and I'm usually a read the book first kind of person. But, given that the story in the film is so fascinating I was curious as to how the book read. I was also hesitant as there is some really harsh content in the film and didn't want to revisit that, but seeing the film gave me a bit of an out to skim those sections if need be. Oddly, I found the harshness way more explicit in the film which I wasn't expecting at all. Overall, I did find it a fascinating read and gave many insights to the characters, and I really enjoyed the writing style. I'm going to continue reading the series, but likely continue this backwards tradition of watching the film first because of the high quality of the films.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Book 2 of 5)The adventure continues with Percy Jackson in this modern take on Greek Mythology in an urban fantasy environment. I really enjoyed this second book in the Percy Jackson series, and although I didn't think they were going to continue with film adaptations it actually appears that they will... and just as I wrote that now I can't find a reference for it. I hope they do continue this films, I thought the first film was a lot of fun and this one would be as well although the story might be more aligned to myths people are familiar with and certainly would have a few challenges. But, the first book to film was a good and pretty liberal with change adaptation, so it's certainly possible to do that again. Here's to hoping!

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie MeyersReleased aptly just less than a month before the film release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, this novella follows part of the time line of the book Eclipse from the perspective of the character of the newborn vampire Bree. It fell pretty flat for me, and I like to call it "The Short Reign of Riley, or the Mysterious Disappearance of our Dangerous Villainess Victoria", even though it's first person perspective from Bree, she doesn't really 'do' much and pretty much feels like a victim. If you want to hear more about it, it was the focus of a current episode of Before the Dawn where Marina & I discuss it more in depth. You can listen to that episode of the podcast here.

Dear John by Nicholas SparksFull disclosure: my reason to read this book was from continually reading quotes, hearing remarks and even saying myself "Oh, that's another film based on a Nicholas Sparks novel" as a way to describe a film. Then I stepped back and acknowledged that I've never even read a Nicholas Sparks novel, so it felt a little off to categorize a film for that reason. Anyhow, I liked the film Dear John so I thought this would be a good place to start and it was. It felt very genuine and wondrous, and was interesting to read a relationship focused story from a male point of view. Now I'm curious to read one of his books where I've not seen the film

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong by Kelley Armstrong (Darkest Powers 3 of 3)I wrote about The Awakening back in February which is the second book in the Darkest Powers trilogy and the whole things caps off here with The Reckoning. Wow. This was such an enjoyable series for so many reasons. First: it's not a trillion books like so many YA ones are these days. Second: Paranormal goodness. Third: Great characters! Fourth: Solid page turning goodness. I really loved this series and am a little excited yet hesitant to jump into the Kelley Armstrong's adult series The Women of the Otherworld, because it's long and I know I'll get sucked into quickly and easily - and that's an 11 book series. Aie!!

Up Next - July ReadingHarry Potter and The Goblet of FireEat, Pray Love (film out Aug 13, 2010)The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (trailer, film out Dec 10, 2010)The Girl Who Played with Fire (film out July 2010)